FOREIGN MINISTER RUPEL DENIES GOVERNMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L LJUBLJANA 000724

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

EUR/NCE FOR YEAGER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/23/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL SI
SUBJECT: FOREIGN MINISTER RUPEL DENIES GOVERNMENT
INTERFERENCE WITH PRESS

REF: LJUBLJANA 722

Classified By: CDA Maryruth Coleman FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (C) Foreign Minister Rupel requested a meeting with Charge
November 22 to discuss charges by many journalists that the
Jansa government is exerting indirect pressure on the media
and restricting press freedom in Slovenia. Rupel fully
dismissed the allegations, pointing to the broadly critical
tone of articles about the government as evidence that the
GOS does not manipulate the press. He argued that the
journalists' complaints of government meddling were
politically motivated, and that in Slovenia, unlike in other
countries, "there is no media support for the Government."


2. (C) CDA asked why the press was so negative. Rupel
responded that in post-independence Slovenia there had been
no lustration or "showdown" between ex-Communists and others
who had struggled for the establishment of an independent,
democratic Slovenia. He claimed that the left-oriented elite
had "an expectation of the right to rule" the country and
that the media largely concurred. Rupel asserted that the
media is hostile to the right of center government and looks
for ways to criticize it. During the conversation, however,
the FM did admit that "some people in the Government" -- not
himself or the Prime Minister -- had made an effort to select
a friendly editor of leading daily "Delo" and had succeeded
in installing a general manager and editor-in-chief through
two companies on the supervisory board - but that this gambit
failed after a relatively short time.


3. (C) The FM stated that he had been informed that the U.S.
Embassy had been "asking all around" about the press freedom
issue and said he was concerned that the U.S. would doubt his
or the PM's democratic credentials. CDA answered that the
"Petition against Censorship" signed by 570 journalists
(reportedly about a quarter of professionally active
journalists in Slovenia) was unprecedented and that we had
heard similar allegations from our press contacts. CDA
pointed out that we have concerns and that we are trying to
understand better what is going on. While we had heard many
differing assessments of the allegations of government
pressure, specific accusations of interference remained
unexplained. CDA mentioned that we would address this issue
in our human rights report, and that we would do everything
we could to be accurate and fair.


4. (C) Rupel stated that PM Jansa had made important points
about state shares in companies that own media outlets in his
address to the Parliament on November 19 (reftel). He
suggested that the Ministry might translate the text and send
to all diplomatic missions in town.


5. (C) COMMENT - FM Rupel presented the expected government
line and reiterated points made by the GOS in its October 12
"statement on media freedom in Slovenia." His admission
about some in the government attempting to place a friendly
editor at a major newspaper was interesting. Our discussions
with a wide swathe of contacts show there is sense of some
pressure, but the debate after PM Jansa's November 19
presentation to Parliament also indicates that press freedom
is considerable in Slovenia.
COLEMAN